In this photo released Wednesday, March 4, 2015, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks during an interview with Portuguese state television, RTP, in Damascus, Syria. Assad denied that his troops drop barrels bombs on civilians telling a journalist: "You are talking about massive propaganda." (AP Photo/SANA)
(The Associated Press)

BEIRUT – Activists say government helicopter gunships have dropped bombs on the Syrian city of Aleppo, killing at least 10 people and wounding many others.

An Aleppo-based activist who goes by the name Abu Raed said a barrel bomb struck a shop that sells gasoline and diesel. He said a fire broke out and many bystanders were burned.

Abu Raed said the strike on the Qadi Askar neighborhood Thursday morning killed at least 10, while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 18 people died.

The aerial attack comes a day after the Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, and other radical Islamic factions launched an assault on a government intelligence building in Aleppo, blowing up part of it before trying to storm the facility.